


Making Our Way

by m_class



Series: 007 Fest 2019 Angst Prompt Table [5]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Angst Prompt Table 2019 - Delusion, Communication, Cuddling & Snuggling, Delusions, Established Relationship, M/M, Mentions of Drunk Driving, Pillow Talk, Realistic Psychosis, and genocide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 16:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20067379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_class/pseuds/m_class
Summary: As rain falls outside, James and Q talk in bed.





	Making Our Way

**Author's Note:**

> And now for something slightly different...my first and so far only attempt at capturing Craig!Bond! I'm surprisingly pleased with how he came out--gruff is fun to write ;)--but I haven't seen all the Craig movies, so please pardon any inconsistencies with his canon characterization. (I mean, I've hardly seen all the Classic movies, either, but they're not exactly intended to form an, uh, coherent whole).
> 
> Each prompt fic can be read as a stand-alone or as part of the series in order.  
This fic is the one partial exception; it can be considered part of the same universe as the Classic fics, or not.

Rain patters steadily against the windows of Q’s London flat, smearing grey-blue patterns against the panes that reflect and refract the city lights. Inside the bedroom, the warm light of a bedside lamp spills across the carpeted floor, the old wooden wardrobe, the soft sheets of the double bed.

Q lies with his head on James’s bare chest, so that each breath James takes reminds him, even while dozing, of the comfortable weight of Q against him. Absentmindedly, he rubs a hand up his back when he stirs lightly, then relaxes again, watching the rain.

If James were not the agent that he is, he might not have noticed, a few minutes later, the slight catch in Q’s breath as he goes to say something, then falls silent again. Being the agent that he is, he does notice, but lets it lie until, a few minutes later, it happens again.

“Q?”

Q shifts slightly, not moving off of James’s torso, gazing at the ceiling as he speaks.

“I thought you’d make more of a to-do about it. You being the big tough field agent and all.”

James huffs slightly in amusement at the description. “Well. Need a brain to be a big tough field agent, don’t I? All you said makes sense.” He thinks for a minute, then adds, gruffly, “I’m glad you told me.”

From his vantage point of Q’s profile, he sees the corner of Q’s mouth quirk in a smile. “Not everyone sees it that way.”

“Plenty of wankers in the world who wouldn’t know sense or decency if it bit them in the arse. You meet one on every mission. If not more than one,” he adds darkly.

Q snorts, and James can feel him relaxing more fully against him. Christ, the man’d really been worried about telling him this. 

“Be that as it may,” Q says, after another moment, though the rejoinder lacks his usual jauntiness.

“Right, well, it be, it may, and you don’t have to worry that I’ll think any differently about you, you hear?” James wraps an arm around Q’s back, pulling him closer, and Q relaxes against him.

“When people hear ‘psychosis,’ they think horror movie murderers, not...not normal bastards fighting off delusions that dog at them while they’re trying to, to make a sandwich, or walk to the Tube, or replace some reprobate’s unreturned wristwatch in the lab.” Q sighs. “I’m not saying no one with psychosis is ever dangerous, but there are people in the world who get dangerous because they’re angry, or depressed, or think they’ve been jilted, or drive after drinking, or want to rule the world so badly that they decide to commit genocide from the moon--”

“I think that last one happened just the once, but I take your point.” Q chuckles slightly, and James shifts so that he can hold him more comfortably, sighing softly. “I can see why you’d be afraid to say, Q. But you don’t have to worry. I know you’re not a monster. You’re just one more bastard struggling through.” 

“‘One more bastard struggling through.’” Q turns the words over for a moment, sounding mildly amused. “That really is how you think of everyone, isn’t it, James?”

“Hm? Well. Everyone’s a bit of a bastard at best, and we’re all just...making our way along, aren’t we?”

“Yes.” Q lays his cheek against James’s chest, smiling as he closes his eyes. “I suppose we are.”


End file.
